If you want your business to truly create value through AI, you need to start with your people. Vaughn replaced 80% of the mid-cap software company's employees during its transition to AI, en route to dramatically improving every part of its operations. He says there's one thing that's essential to success, and that's “a person who believes in how existential it is. That's the difference.”
Rother agreed, saying, “We ended up spending 90 percent of our time on HR topics, from change management to upskilling to change delivery to organizational power. So the HR side is much trickier than the technical side.” what to do? They suggested some practical ideas.
Find real business applications. Discussions revealed a significant gap between AI activities and business outcomes. Rotar said most organizations struggle with measurement, saying, “I think it's probably 80%, 70% stuck in proof-of-concept, pilot, prototype mode. And for organizations that move into production, it's very difficult to measure the real business case for some of that.”
Tie it to payment. Successful measurement requires connecting AI efforts directly to business outcomes. One of Rontor's companies convened a team of AI experts and structured the group's compensation package with 50% of compensation in performance equity units “fully tied to achieving business objectives.”
Think bigger. We recognize that AI is an exponential technology that requires bold thinking. Comparing AI to previous technological revolutions, Lothar urged leaders to think beyond incremental improvements and consider fundamental business model changes. How would your business or industry change if cognitive costs approached zero? That's a good question for boards to address.
Let's put it into practice. Having seen numerous board presentations that failed to convey the true potential of AI, Rotor advocated for direct engagement with AI tools as the path to true understanding. Leaders who use AI personally develop greater intuition for strategic decision-making and investment priorities. “Don't accept someone on your board who shows you a PowerPoint and talks about it,” he said. “Please actually use it and put it into practice in a way that suits your role.”
Please lead. “This has to be a directive from the CEO,” Vaughan said. “This is not a technology project.”
